A common problem frequently encountered in hospitals and other medical facilities where injections are given is that when the doctor or nurse recaps the cover back onto the hypodermic needle, there is a motion of the hypodermic needle advancing toward the person's hand holding the cover and sometimes when recapping the cover onto the hypodermic needle, they accidentally prick themselves. This is a serious problem today when the injection has been given to someone with a serious disease such as the well-known Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Hepatitis.
Conventional hypodermic needles provide no safe way for recapping the cover onto the hypodermic needle after use and consequently, used hypodermic needles are the most common cause of accidental prick injuries in hospital. This problem has led to the present invention needle cover assembly.
The limitations of several prior art patents will now be discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,277 issued to Norelli on Apr. 11, 1989 for "Safety Cover For Syringe Needles" (hereafter "the Norelli '277 Patent") discloses a safety cover for a conventional needle. It includes a pair of elongated semi-cylindrical jaws which cooperate to completely encase a conventional needle. Each jaw is hingeably attached to the syringe barrel. When the jaws are opened, the jaws are generally parallel to each other and adjacent to the syringe. The two jaws are symmetrically split.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,871 issued to Luther on Jun. 13, 1989 for "Needle Guard, And Assembly" (hereafter "the Luther Patent") discloses an assembly of a needle guard for a hub and attached needle. It includes an elongated cylindrical guard member mounted on the hub. The cylindrical guard member defines a longitudinal slot which coincides with the needle. The guard member can be rotated away from the needle when in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,503 issued to Miller on Dec. 12, 1989 for "Disposable Covered Needle For Syringe" (hereafter "the Miller Patent") discloses a disposable covered needle for a syringe. It includes a needle member and a cover member pivotably-connected to each other. The cover member has a long narrow opening for the needle to pass through when the cover member is pivoted away and is covered by a rupturable plastic film which breaks when the cover is pivoted to expose the needle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,792 issued to Norelli on Mar. 20, 1990 for "Safety Cover For Syringe Needles" (hereafter "the Norelli '792 Patent") discloses a safety cover for syringe needles similar to the Norelli '277 Patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,249 issued to Jagger, et al. on Aug. 21, 1990 for "Hypodermic Needle With Reclosable Safety Cap" (hereafter "the Jagger Patent") discloses a hypodermic needle apparatus. The needle cap is split longitudinally into two halves or arms which, in the closed position, abut each other. A ring is used to hold the two halves or arms in the closed position. The ring is threadedly mounted on a threaded portion of the hub which extends upwardly from a base which is used to attach the apparatus to a conventional syringe. The two halves or arms spring outwardly into the perpendicular position when in use. The two halves or arms are symmetrically split and can be rotated to lock and unlock the two halves or arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,591 issued to Yuen on Oct. 30, 1990 for "Needle Assembly" (hereafter "the Yuen Patent") discloses a swing-away disposable syringe needle cover. It includes a tube which is closed on one end and has a longitudinal slit at the other end, which is sufficiently long and wide to permit the needle to traverse through the slit laterally. The tube cover is rotated to the perpendicular position to expose the needle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,475 issued to Olson on Apr. 30, 1991 for "Protector For Intravenous And Syringe Needles" (hereafter "the Olson Patent") discloses a needle assembly for withdrawing body fluids. The two cover elements are pivotally connected to the body for rotation toward and away from each other in a plane containing the needle about two pivot points. The two cover elements spring outwardly into the perpendicular position. Each cover element has two halves or arms which are symmetrically split.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,102 issued to Sitnik on Oct. 8, 1991 for "Swing-Away Disposable Syringe Needle Cover" (hereafter "the Sitnik Patent") discloses a projector assembly. It includes an elongated hollow protective sheath mounted on the hub and having openings extending longitudinally along both sides thereof to permit the needle to be inserted into one of two conduits. The top of the protective sheath has an opening.
Accordingly, there remains an, as yet, unfulfilled need for an improved hypodermic needle cover/guard assembly which simplifies the re-capping of the needle of a hypodermic syringe, provides dual or redundant protection against accidental "needle-sticks", and eliminates the need to have the user's hand in motion towards the needle of the hypodermic syringe during the process of re-capping.